What Is a Copyright?

A copyright is the legal ownership of an original work, such as an article, story, book, poem, song, skit, play, drawing, photo, painting, video, etc. This legal ownership is protected by law and is available to both published and unpublished works. The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right:

* To reproduce the work.
* To prepare derivative works based upon the work (translations, abridgments, games, workbooks, etc.).
* To distribute copies (sell, rent, lease).
* To perform the work publicly.
* To display the work publicly.

It is illegal to reproduce all or part of a copyrighted work without first obtaining permission from the copyright owner. Copyright law applies to everyone. Nonprofit status does not mean that churches, schools, and other organizations are exempt from the copyright law. Everyone must obey the copyright laws.

For more information about United States copyright laws, visit the U.S. Copyright Office Web site at www.copyright.gov.

How Long Does Copyright Protection Last?

A work copyrighted 1922 or earlier is now in the public domain. A work copyrighted after 1922 and before 1964 is protected for 95 years if the copyright was renewed. For a work copyrighted 1964-1977 the copyright was renewed automatically, protecting it for 95 years. A work copyrighted in 1978 or later is usually protected for the authors lifetime plus 70 years.

What Is "Public Domain"?

Works that are not protected by copyright are in the public domainanyone can quote from them or reprint them.

Permission to Quote From a Book

You may quote up to 250 words from a book copyrighted by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association without asking for permission. To obtain permission to use more than 250 words, send your request to our Rights and Permissions Department: RightsandPermissions@rhpa.org. In your request, include the answers to these questions:

Permission to Quote from Cookbooks

Personal Correspondence and Blogs, Church Newsletters:You may quote up to 3 recipes per cookbook copyrighted by the Review and Herald Publishing Association without asking for permission. At the end of each recipe, include the following credit: "From (title of cookbook), copyright (year) by Review and Herald Publishing. Used by permission. To order, visit wwwAdventistBookCenter.com or call 1-800-765-6955." (Omit the ABC reference if the book is out of print.)

To obtain permission to quote more than 3 recipes per cookbook for the uses listed above, or to obtain permission to use our recipes on web sites or in printed form (cookbook, cooking school syllabus, magazine article, etc.), send your request to: RightsandPermissions@rhpa.org. In your request, include the answers to the questions listed under "Permission to Quote from a Book."

Permission to Quote From The Clear Word

Noncommercial Use

You have our permission to quote from The Clear Word, The Clear Word for Kids, or The Easy English Clear Word in items that are not for sale, such as church bulletins or newsletters. A credit must appear at the end of each quotation (John 3:16, Clear Word).

Commercial Use

Up to 500 verses of The Clear Word, The Clear Word for Kids, or The Clear Word in Easy English may be quoted (print, visual, electronic, or audio) without written permission, provided the verses quoted make up less than 25 percent of the work and are not a complete book of the Bible. The following copyright notice must appear on the title page or copyright page of the work:

Permission to Quote From Magazines

Magazines editors usually purchase one-time rights to publish an article in a single issue of the magazine, so they cannot give you permission to reproduce all or part of an article or story from a magazine. Contact MagazineCopyrights@rhpa.org for information on how to contact the copyright holder of an article or story from the following publications: Guide, Listen, Message, Sabbath School Leadership, Vibrant Life, Women of Spirit, or Winner. For information on how to contact the copyright holder of an article or story from the Adventist Review, contact ReviewEditor@gc.adventist.org>.

If you want to use hymns owned by the Review and Herald®, you will need to send us a written request, including a list of the hymns you want to use. Our Administrative Committee will consider the request, and, if they approve it, we will let you know the required royalty payment or use fee.

The copyright ownership may be for the words, the music, the arrangement, or any combination of these. You must write to the copyright owner(s) and obtain permission to use the copyrighted hymns. If you are including the hymn in a hymnal or songbook, you must arrange for royalty payments to be made to the copyright holder on a quarterly or yearly basis. (A booklet with names and address of many church music copyright holders is available from the Book Division rights and permissions coordinator.)

3. Hymns in the Public Domain

Most of the hymns in the hymnal are in the public domain. Any song or hymn without a credit line at the end is in the public domain. The key date is 1922. Anything copyrighted that year or before is in public domain because the copyright has expired.

Example: No. 393, "Lord of the Sabbath."

No permission is necessary to use hymns that are in the public domain. You can copy public domain hymns and use them without getting permission.

Sometimes the words are copyrighted but the music is in the public domain (or vice versa). Or both the words and music are in the public domain but the arrangement is protected by copyright (e.g., No. 187, "Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners" and No. 678, "God Be in My Head"). Again, watch for the year 1922 or earlier.

The following hymns have gone into public domain since the hymnal was first published:

109 Marvelous Grace
159 The Old Rugged Cross
178 The Unveiled Christ
311 I Would Be Like Jesus
317 Lead Me to Calvary
357 Come, Labor On
424 For Thee, O Dear, Dear Country
426 I Shall See the King
487 In the Garden
512 Just When I Need Him Most
648 I Vow to Thee, My Country

This information will not change until the year 2018, at which time anything copyrighted in 1923 will go into the public domain.

Using Individual Hymns

If you want to include only some of these hymns in a hymnal or songbook, follow the steps below under Non-English Hymnals.

Projecting the Words to Hymns

If you want to project on a screen the words of a hymn (or even part of the words of a hymn), contact Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) for a license (www.ccli.com). Hymn owners and publishers have given CCLI the right to arrange with churches and individuals to use the words to hymns (project them on a screen in the front of the church, quote them in an article or book, etc.). CCLI collects the royalties from the churches and passes them on to the copyright holders.

Quoting From a Copyrighted Song or Hymn

In general, you must obtain written permission from the copyright holder to quote, in a published work, part of a copyrighted song or poem. The name of the copyright holder is usually printed at the bottom of the song. If the Review and Herald® is the copyright holder, send an e-mail requesting permission to RightsandPermisions@rhpa.org.For permission to use the words to other copyrighted songs, contact CCLI (see above).

Non-English Hymnals

When The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal was published, the Review and Herald® obtainedcopyright permission for the English edition only. We do not own the rights for foreign language editions and cannot grant these rights to others.

If you wish to publish a hymnal in a non-English language that will include all the hymns in The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, you must follow these steps:

1. Obtain permission from all the copyright holders of all the hymns (groups 1 and 2 above).

2. Send a letter to the Review and Herald® Publishing Association, asking for a license to produce a hymnal in another language, and including copies of all your permission letters from the copyright owners.

If your request is approved, the Review and Herald will charge you a licensing fee and issue a hymnal
licensing agreement, which will give you legal permission to translate and print The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal in a non-English language.

The words and music for The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal were set in type before current technology was available. The words and music are not available electronically, and the music is not available separate from the words. Once you have a list of the songs you want to include and have arranged all the necessary copyright permissions, the Review and Herald®s copyright and permission coordinator can refer you to someone with the appropriate software to set the music for you.

Electronic Versions of Hymnals

The Review and Herald® does not own the right to produce electronic versions of the hymns in The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal and cannot grant these rights to others. If you wish to produce an electronic version of the hymnal, you must follow the steps outlined above, under Non-English Hymnals.

Remember that if you produce an unauthorized print or electronic version of The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal or any other songbook or hymnal owned by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association (or a copyrighted hymn or song), you are violating United States and international copyright laws and can be prosecuted in a court of law.

Other Songs and Songbooks

The information above applies to all songbooks and hymnals published by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association and Southern Publishing Association (merged with Review and Herald® in 1980); most of these titles are listed below by copyright or publication date.

Remember, if you produce an unauthorized print or electronic version of the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal or any other songbook or hymnal owned by the Review and Herald® Publishing Association (or a copyrighted hymn or song), you are violating United States and international copyright laws and can be prosecuted in a court of law.

Licenses for Derivative Works

The Review and Herald® Publishing Association occasionally grants film rights, licenses for audio books, and licenses for other derivative works, such as teachers guides, coloring books, games, etc. For more information, contact our Rights and Permissions Department:RightsandPermissions@rhpa.org.

Licenses for Non-English Translations

The Review and Herald® Publishing Association frequently grants licenses for non-English editions of our books to publishers outside the United States. To obtain a license, e-mail your request to RightsandPermissions@rhpa.org.

Include the following in your request:

name of publisher
your name and position
title of book
author of book
copyright date
language into which book will be translated
number of copies to be printed

Your license request will be considered by a committee. If your request is granted, you will be charged a licensing fee and asked to sign a licensing agreement. Please note that the Review and Herald® Publishing Association always grants first right of refusal on translation rights to the Seventh-day Adventist publishing house that serves that language group.

Permission to Use Artwork

Paintings, drawings, photos, charts, and diagrams included in a book or magazine are protected by copyright. You must obtain permission to reproduce those visuals in a printed publication, PowerPoint program, classroom handout, video, banner, camp meeting program, backdrop, etc.

Include in your request the name of the artist, title or description of illustration, printed source (if known), and how you plan to use the illustration. For example:

Artist: Harry Anderson
Illustration: What Happened to Your Hand?
Printed Source: Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, vol. 13, p. 8.
Use: We want to use this painting on a church bulletin for the primary tent at the Chesapeake Conference camp meeting. We plan to make about 300 copies. We will also use it as part of the backdrop in the primary tent.

The Review and Herald® Publishing Association has been producing fine Christian books for more than a century, and during that time many artists have produced illustrations for our products, including: